We have conducted hundreds of seminars and workshops on intercultural topics. As a rule, interested people attend these seminars to prepare for new tasks or to improve their efficiency in dealing with foreign partners or colleagues. But unfortunately there are exceptions to this rule.
Intercultural training as a constraint
Unfortunately, we have often experienced participants who were “sent” and only followed the wishes of their superiors. Intrinsic motivation: not present. In some cases, the participants did not see how such training could help them. In such cases, it often happened that this realization only emerged in the course of the seminar, whereupon it became a valuable event. Unfortunately, there were also cases where the resistance was so great that the defensive attitude adopted from the outset could not be broken through. It was a pity that a sensible investment turned into a bad one.
Intercultural training as an amplifier of resistance
One example that is still doing the rounds in our company was an intercultural training course in the USA for a client who had major problems with a German employee in the USA. The training took place there and the participant took every opportunity to use his own assessment of the differences between Americans and Germans as proof of why he disliked the Americans so much. This was frustrating and such employees are simply out of place.
Intercultural problems? We don’t have any, doesn’t concern me
In some cases, it also happened that there were simply no challenges, or that the participants had no connection to international business at all. They therefore rightly wondered why they should spend one or two days on topics they had no interest in. At best, there was a polite interest, because the seminar topics are generally very interesting. In the worst case, we found ourselves facing a wall of passive resistance that was almost impossible to break under such circumstances.
Intercultural differences? I know better
Anyone who does not believe in the usefulness of intercultural training quickly adopts an attitude of contradiction. The same applies to people who only think they already know their way around. Exceptions are then elevated to rules and contradiction becomes an end in itself. In some cases, this “resistance” can be broken with clever argumentation and appropriate facts. But it is all too easy for these people to stick to their preconceived opinion.
We still have budget – where to put it?
This trap often affects public bodies that are supposed to exhaust their budgets so that they are not cut the following year. This almost perverse situation not only means that taxpayers’ money or company resources are not saved, but are actually wasted. Anyone can easily imagine the lack of motivation among many participants in such seminars. We had such a case last year with a public body. You and we end up paying for this wasted money, and we are still arguing about payment! This behavior helps no one.
Investments in intercultural training – do they pay off?
Intercultural training is a sensible investment: participants increase their efficiency when dealing with foreign partners and colleagues. Employees who are sent to another country are able to cope more quickly and can concentrate on their actual tasks. This advantage is often difficult to measure, as is the case with advertising, for example. Everyone knows that you have to advertise, but no one can say whether a product was bought because the buyer saw this or that advertisement. On the other hand, you can do a simple calculation:
- An employee is posted abroad for 3 years.
- His salary with supplements and other additional costs (rent, vehicle, relocation, etc.) amount to 120,000 euros per year.
- Converted into days, this means costs of 329 euros/day.
- He receives intercultural preparation, which costs a total of 4,000 euros.
- This means that the costs would be recouped if he saves around 12 working days through increased efficiency. Calculated over three years, this is just 1.1%!
Experience shows that this increase in efficiency is easily possible, albeit only indirectly measurable, as there are too many “soft” factors. For example, employees can settle in more quickly, feel more comfortable and can therefore complete their core tasks more quickly. Of course, this is difficult to measure.
What to do?
Investment yes, but not a “blind” investment. Here are a few tips to bear in mind when considering intercultural training:
- Who should take part in the intercultural training?
- What relevance does the topic have for each individual participant?
- What challenges do the participants have to overcome when dealing with foreign countries?
- How open are the participants in dealing with other cultures?
- For assignments – are we sending the right person? A test with “The international Profiler”© provides information here, which reliably measures the strengths and weaknesses of the participant. We are happy to carry this out for our clients.
Vieles davon ist eigentlich nur „Common Sense“. Die Herausforderung ist nun, diesen auch anzuwenden. Dann lohnen sichinterkulturelle Seminare nicht nur für die Teilnehmer, sie rechnen sich auch für die Unternehmen und leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag zum Unternehmensergebnis!
